news

UK public support for ‘big government’ hits record high

Some 68 per cent of taxpayers thought government should definitely “be responsible for keeping prices under control”, the annual British Social Attitudes survey found, up from 29 per cent when the question was last asked in 2016 and the highest since records began in 1985.

The large study — conducted between September 7 and October 30 last year, during which time Liz Truss was UK prime minister — found that a record 53 per cent of people thought the government should also definitely “be responsible for reducing income differences between the rich and poor”.

Sir John Curtice, senior research fellow at the National Centre for Social Research, which runs the poll, said: “Both Conservative and Labour voters have changed their minds about the role of government and about taxation and spending over the years.”

smdh my dick head, the virus of authoritarianism has come to the UK, whose citizens now desire the brutal tankie policy of "wanting the government to do literally anything to improve their lives". damn you, Putler!

The Headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been hit like how many times so far?

"Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been wounded or killed in less than two years, can we make peace and try and rebuild what little we have left?"

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers anti-Russian tirade at the United Nations

Scholz condemned those who call for an “immediate ceasefire” in the Ukraine war. Rather, the German chancellor cynically declared, “Peace without freedom is oppression. Peace without justice is a diktat.”

there appears to be some movement on Wikipedia to change the name of the article from Uyghur genocide to some better ( but still not great) names the articles gonna be pretty bad either way but if there’s anyone who knows how to engage in Wikipedia bs here you go.

India Suspends Visas for Canada Nationals Amid Diplomatic Row

Previously, Canadian PM Trudeau said he had credible information of possible links of Indian agents in the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

On Thursday, India suspended visa services for Canadian citizens, visa service provider BLS International said, citing a notice from the Indian mission.

The BLS International, a private agency hired for initial scrutiny of visa applications, said "Important notice from Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21 September 2023, Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice."

The announcement came amid a diplomatic tussle between the two countries, where Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement in the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. Both countries had expelled each other's diplomats from their respective embassies.

Meanwhile, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan indicated that the United States is in "constant" contact with Canada and India to prevent the diplomatic conflict unleashed by the assassination of the Sikh separatist leader from escalating.

At a news conference, Sullivan said Washington expressed concern about allegations that Indian agents may have been involved in Nijjar's death.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had credible information of possible links of Indian government agents in the murder in Canada of Nijjar, whom the Indian government considered a terrorist.

Nijjar, the Sikh separatist who was murdered in June in front of a temple in Canada, Nijjar, was organizing an unofficial "referendum" to consult the community on the creation in the state of Punjab of an independent country, Khalistan, for the Sikh minority.

Reddit is probably the worst place to see how a foreign population feels about particular geopolitical issues. I've visited some Central American subs and most of them are huge America worshippers who still talk about Ukraine and how they need to support it. They also endlessly find ways to blame or hate Russia while excusing everything wrong that the US does.

This is not reflective at all from what I've experienced since the war took off. Nobody's really talking about Ukraine and local elections are taking most of the attention. Opinions on Russia are generally pretty good, much better than China.

Libs explaining how Ukrainians had no other choice but to volunteer for the SS and ethnically cleanse Lvov because of le evil Stalin

CBC running an article to lionize Taiwanese airsoft larpers lmfao

Does the Poland Ukraine drama make it more likely or less likely that Poland occupies Western Ukraine for "peace keeping"?

Bob Menendez got indicted for bribery?

Oh I forgot to chime in with this article I read on Singapore in the latest Le Monde Diplomatique. It's a pretty good overview of Singapore as it currently stands. It's behind a paywall, so I'll post it as a reply chain below. Title is "Has the Singapore model lost its shine?: Singaporeans can vote, but the opposition is kept in check. They can strike, but never do. They depend on disenfranchised immigrant labour. But are cracks beginning to show in the ‘Singapore model’?" From: https://mondediplo.com/2023/09/03singapore

Also, interestingly Singapore has an air force. Like, a fairly massive one. Over 100 fighter jets, for a tiny country with 6 million people! Suppose it's a deterrent thing.

https://www.upstreamonline.com/exploration/companies-turn-to-cuba-following-landmark-onshore-discovery/2-1-1521077

International oil companies operating in Cuba could be looking for additional hydrocarbon resources soon, on the heels of a potentially transformative onshore discovery made on the Caribbean island.

Australian independent Melbana Energy in partnership with Angola state-owned company Sonangol have successfully unlocked oil in Block 9 with the Alameda-1 and Alameda-2 wells, suggesting a production development could be on the cards.

Melbana praised Alameda as a “tremendous success”, with the Alameda-2 well flowing at rates of 1903 barrels per day of oil graded at 19 degrees API at peak during a test carried out a few weeks ago.

Mini swiss news update:

Swiss central bank is not increasing interest rates and keeps them at 1.75

Swiss government has their fall session and the big topics are:

Insurance premiums, since 2000 they've doubled and from 2022 to 2023 they've increased by 6.6%

Wasted opportunity by left wing parties for not calling to abolish all the health insurance companies and just having one they just want the state to pay more for relief.

Climate, after this historically warm summer this has become a rather large topic with questions of how can we achieve CO2 neutrality and if it's even possible, one of the proposals is that every building over 300 square meters has to have solar panels installed.

Selling Weapons considering the ongoing pressure this is going to be a topic for a long time the newest proposal is to allow the army to sell its 25 decommissioned Leopard-2 tanks back to Germany, who'd immediately send them to Ukraine.

Tobacco ads swiss people voted on no longer allowing any ads for tobacco this spring (56.6% to 43.4%) and now parliament is trying to worm themselves out of it by saying "well the text said it was to protect kids so what if we just ban it all together that'd go too far"

Regulationbrake this is something that's been again proposed by market liberals, basically if the politicians vote on it companies can chose to ignore regulations and laws, this already came up last summer session and was voted down by every party but the FDP and now during the fall session they are trying to do it again.

The whole session is going to conclude on the 29th so maybe there'll be some developments.

A few months back a Greenlandic member of the Danish Parliament pissed off Danish politicians by insisting on addressing the assembly in Greenlandic. The attention prompted the presidium of the parliament to take their efforts to create better opportunities for speakers of Greenlandic and Faroese out of the picking jar. Now the work is done and they have decided on how to do things.

The presidium flatly rejected a fully trilingual solution akin to that of the European Parliament or the Greenlandic parliament where proceedings are simultaneously interpreted and all parliamentary documents exists in a Greenlandic and a Danish version, claiming that such a solution would be too expensive. Instead Greenlandic and Faroese MP's will get extended speaking time, enabling them to translate themselves. They will also be granted extra funds to hire translators.

The new model is being criticized by interpreters and Greenlandic politicians for assuming that non-Danish MP's are as good at speaking Danish as they are at speaking their native language and that translation is only done to the benefit of their constituents at home. Interpretation takes skill and you cannot assume that any elected official will be able to provide a professional quality translation. The new procedure also makes no mention of how Danish MP's are going to be translated for Greenlandic and Faroese MP's and constituents.

Greenland and the Faroe Islands are self-ruling colonies of Denmark each with their own national parliaments. Of the 179 members of the Danish parliament two are elected in Greenland and two in the Faroe Islands.

Following Armenian's right now is super depressing.

Is it really like that? On the topic of Azerbaijan against Armenia, the latter is apparently supported by the US, Russia and Iran at the same time?

https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-09-21-23/h_c248504d591aa2fee553a9a11a3f496a

As part of the meeting, Biden will announce a new package of military assistance, including “significant air defense capabilities to help Ukraine protect its people,” which the White House official said, “will help Ukraine harden its defenses ahead of what is likely to be a tough winter, filled with renewed Russian attacks on Ukrainian critical infrastructure.”

The US will not be providing Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine, however, Sullivan said — despite requests from Ukraine.

“The president is constantly speaking both to his own military and to his counterparts in Europe and to the Ukrainians themselves about what is needed on the battlefield at any given phase of the war and then what the United States can provide," Sullivan said. “As he's weighed all that up to today, he has determined that he would not provide ATACMS, but he is also not taking it off the table in the future.”

It will never happen, but I would love, for just one time during one of these GOP-led government shutdowns, for a Dem president to say, "Congress may control the purse, but I write the checks." Are you a multinational agricultural business that has been donating to the GOP? Well, you aren't getting your subsidies or tax refunds until the shutdown is over. Does your business in Florida rely on inspectors OKing goods at the Port of Miami so that you import/export? Tough shit, all of the ports in red states are being shut down because I'm not signing the checks to run them until the shutdown is over. Blue states will run normally, Dem donating business will get their refunds and subsidies, all the rest of you can go talk to your bank about bridge loans.

It's not even about the Dems, I just want to see someone actually fight these GOP freaks.

[Poland/Ukraine]

Poland stopped sending weapons to Ukraine over the dispute over the Ukrainian state forcing the lifting of the agricultural import ban for Eastern European countries. Transit of goods will still be maintained, but the weapons are set to be used for domestic buildup purposes from now.

It's currently election season in Poland and Slovakia, and the local agrarian petty/bourgeois doesn't exactly want competition.

Is this the Ukrainian government's most foolish mistake since the start of the war? Pissing off their staunchest supporters?

Army Corps of Engineers to barge 36 million gallons of freshwater a day as saltwater intrusion threatens New Orleans-area drinking water

The move comes as water levels are plummeting for the second consecutive year after this summer’s blistering heat and low rainfall triggered extreme drought over parts of the central US.

As water levels drop, the threat of saltwater intrusion grows in Louisiana as ocean water pushes north into drinking water systems, unimpeded by the Mississippi’s normally mighty flow rate.

The Mississippi River is forecast to reach “historic lows over the next several weeks,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said during a Friday news conference.

To help mitigate intrusion, the state and the Army Corps of Engineers are working to add 25 feet of height to a 1,500-foot-wide underwater levee in the Mississippi River, which was constructed in July to slow the saltwater’s progression, Army Col. Cullen Jones said.

Born too soon to die in the climate wars, born too late to enjoy a consistent normal climate throughout my life.

Why the West’s attacks on China’s Belt and Road Initiative are futile.

Look at the article cartoon, lmao. Real energy:

...

China was not the first country to put forward the concept of infrastructure connectivity. In 1993, the EU linked up with newly independent countries across the Caucasus and Central Asia to create the Transport Corridor Europe Caucasus Asia. The Asian Development Bank also has the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Programme to foster connectivity between China and its Eurasian neighbours.

Going back further, the idea of an “Iron Silk Road” was first posited in the 1960s through the United Nations to create a rail link from Singapore to Turkey.

But it is the Belt and Road Initiative that is animating things now, largely because of the vast sums of money involved and the grand concepts put forward by China. It is also because the initiative is interpreted as a keynote Chinese offering at a time of geopolitical conflict with the West. And it continues to find receptive audiences in the developing world.

As a result, Western leaders are eager to suggest alternatives, seeking to defeat or stymie the Chinese vision in some way.

...

The key point is that fundamental needs are getting lost in the rush to conjure up new corridors and advance fresh visions. The reality is that many of these routes will not offer anything very different from what is already there. And, in many cases, the commercial viability may still be problematic compared with existing routes.

For example, seaborne transport costs remain a fraction of overland prices in most cases, suggesting that this endless stream of proposed routes across the Eurasian heartland still has some way to go before being able to effectively compete against the sea lanes they seek to displace.

And while each leader likes to have his or her own vision, the truth is that few will remain in power long enough to deliver it through to profitability. This is not to say that everything is a failure, but rather to highlight that real connectivity takes decades to deliver success and so the current metrics are unrealistic in terms of showing us what is really going on.

...

All the negative attention on the Belt and Road Initiative has failed to dent its popularity around the world. Continuing to offer new ideas is a waste of time when most recipient countries would like all projects – whether Chinese or some other – to proceed.

The belt and road’s problems will be exposed through its natural deficiencies. Rather than talking it down, the West should focus on simply delivering infrastructure and investment where it can, and where it is most needed. Continuing with the negative sentiment will only backfire.